Masemola and Ga Masemola
Masemola is a Northern Sotho name of Sekhukhuneland. Wikipedia’s article on Ga Masemola describes it as a village community in the Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality of the Sekhukhune District, Limpopo, about 180 km north-east of Pretoria, with 115,457 people in the 2011 census, 98.6% of them first-language Northern Sotho. (It cites the census through a third-party site; we have not checked the figures against Statistics South Africa.) The infobox gives an alternative name, Ga Mokwena.
The tradition on Wikipedia
The article says Masemola was the fifth of the six sons of the Batau king Matlebjane (the others being Mokwena, Seloane, Mogashoa, Phaahla and Photo), and that the Masemola chiefs descend from him. It says they came as chiefs, not kings, appointed under the authority of King Mokwena, and that Ga Masemola was first called Ga Mokwena. It gives the founding as in “the 1200s” in the infobox and “the 12th century” in the text, which are not the same century. It names Mokoena and Mokoenyana as Masemola’s descendants and says the village surrounds Ga Maphutha, whose founder it describes as a brother of Masemola. Its account of the killing of Matlebjane is told on our Batau page. None of this is cited, and the article says in the first person that its author wants “to rectify” what has been written; treat it as one local writer’s version.
Other sources
The Wikipedia list of Northern Sotho dialects and groups places Masemola in brackets after Batau, alongside Matlebjane, Marishane and Manganeng-Nkadimeng, which fits the Batau tradition above.
What we have not read
We have not found a published genealogy of the Masemola chiefs, a confirmed totem, or any account of the chiefdom’s relation to the Pedi paramountcy, and we have not read the books the Batau article lists. If you are from Ga Masemola and know the chiefs’ history, we would like to hear it.
Izithakazelo (direto) and totem
We have not found a published Masemola praise text or confirmed totem (the Batau are said to have the lion), so we are not printing either. If you recite the Masemola direto, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Ga Masemola (narrative uncited; census figures cited to Census 2011)
- Wikipedia: Batau clan
- Wikipedia: Northern Sotho language (its list of dialects and groups)
Are you from Ga Masemola? Tell us your praises and what elders say about the history, and we will add it, credited to you. Share what you know or WhatsApp 065 138 8213.